One of the biggest problems I've had with STO since I first started playing has been the music of this game. I am baffled as to why the music is extremely Un-Trek like. Not a single score in the soundtrack for the game sounds like Trek. It sounds like it was taken from some campy sci-fi movie. I'd wish I knew why they don't use the Trek audio assets from the series and movies.

For example:

-Warping into DS9 should provide the DS9 intro theme music.
-Warping into ESD should play the ESD intro music provided when the Enterprise docked at ESD to be decommissioned in Star Trek III.
-Combat music should be a mix of all of the movies as they all had faster paced music to match the faster pace of the action going on.
-Logging in should be the main Star Trek intro from Star Trek: TMP or Star Trek II.
-Warping into Qo'nos should play the Klingon theme music from Star Trek III or Star Trek VI.
-Beaming down to a planet should play different multitudes of the music used when this was done in the shows. Something that provides the experience of "I've never been here before, let's go see what's here".
-PVP combat between the Federation and Klingons can be accompanied by the music played with the Enterprise went up against General Chang's Bird of Prey in Star Trek VI.

Just a few examples I can think of that would help make STO more like Star Trek and not a sci-fi shooter with a Trek skin on it (There are other things that can help with this, but this is a major one for me anyways). Star Trek has hundreds of music scores to select from that I would think they have access to if they have full access to anything from the movies and series.

[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent

One of the biggest problems I've had with STO since I first started playing has been the music of this game. I am baffled as to why the music is extremely Un-Trek like. Not a single score in the soundtrack for the game sounds like Trek. It sounds like it was taken from some campy sci-fi movie. I'd wish I knew why they don't use the Trek audio assets from the series and movies.

Because they would have to pay royalties to the composers. They want to MAKE money, not SPEND money...

Yes, I believe they do, for the most part anyways. It is also mostly the same composer isnt it?
Oh, and I /agree with the poster above me.. I have wanted that since the beginning of the game.. nothing better than Klingon musics playin as I blow up hapless kirk wannabe after hapless kirk wannabe

Didn't the composers already get paid when they made them for the movies and TV shows? Doesn't CBS own the rights to all of the music?

They got paid for the use of their work in those shows. If their work is used in other commercial products, they get paid for those as well...

If I compose a song for your game, and then later you collaborate with someone else, you do not have the right to go, "Here. use this piece of music." For one thing before I wright the first note of music for you, you will have agreed to MY terms that my work is exclusively to be used by you, exclusively on that project, and that if you wanted to use it elsewhere, then you would need my express concent that will come in the form of a separate contract...

This is true, unless the rights are bought completely by the company, which I believe CBS did. I believe they own the entirety of the music and can use it in any way they see fit, including changing media outlets and throwing it into games. I still need to find the actual proof that says they do, but that is my belief at the moment and nothing has shown otherwise as of yet.

[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent

Form what I understand, they had to jump through all sorts of hoops just to get that one piece of TOS battle music for the arena.

So maybe they decided to go with their own composer to avoid the headaches.

Maybe CBS wants extra money for use of the pre-existing music from the movies and shows. They may be able to use it as they see fit if they bought full rights. But they may require third parties to pay an additional licensing fee.

Otherwise, I figure that Cryptic would have used pieces from the entirety of all Star Trek shows for different purposes.

For whatever reason, hiring their own composer was preferrable to useing existing material...

The executive producer has addressed this on a few occasions. Here is one such quote:

Quote:

Originally Posted by dstahl

The music rights to specific scores do not automatically rest with CBS, and in many cases we have to work through CBS to get to the parent owner and negotiate to use it. While we absolutely would love to use music from the TV shows and movies, it can be challenging to get approval and a fee structure setup.

It won't stop us from trying though.

Some new tracks have been added recently, although these seem to be new pieces (probably costing many dollars). I understand what your saying as regards to the actual IP music, but, I honestly believe we would stand to gain more if we could first get more generalised music in for the non-IP areas like exploration clusters mission play. Royalty/Licence free music is the best option. People think its low quality just because its free. They couldn't be more mistaken.

I was on the Starfleet Academy map for a few hours last night. There was no music at all. Apart from the environmental effects it was dead silent.

I just want to know what the rationale is behind Cryptic's stance on not engaging with music as a valid industry professed gameplay immersion/ambiance feature.

What set all of this off for me was that I just started playing SWTOR last night and noticed the drastic difference in music usage. Bio-Ware is in the same exact position as Crytpic. They are a third party developer, creating a game for an IP. But TOR uses massive amounts of SW music and changes it almost on a dynamic level. It was a rather amazing experience. Much more impressive than STO.

[Unrepentant] Lapo@overlapo: the problem with space STF
is that you can't properly teabag your defeated opponent